1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of plotters and, in particular, to an actuator mechanism for a plotter carriage adaptable for use in either a pen or pencil plotter mode.
2. Description of Related Art
Recent advances in computer hardware and software have moved designers and draftsmen from the drawing table to the computer screen. However sophisticated this technology has become, nevertheless the results of such effort must be moved from the computer to the surface of a drawing media in order to implement, to a large degree, the fruits of their labor. Thus, plotters capable of handling the output of such computer systems have been developed and are continually being upgraded. While the majority of uses for plotter technology have been in pen type plotters, nevertheless pencil type plotters have become increasingly popular due to the ability to be able to erase or make corrections or alterations to the drawings produced thereby. In many instances, however, it is advantageous to be able to use the same basic plotter mechanism to do both pen and pencil drawings. This is typically done in current plotters by replacing the entire carriage when changing from a pen to a pencil plot and vice versa. Since this requires two completely different sets of actuator mechanisms, obviously it is very expensive to proceed in this manner. In addition, it is a time consuming and complex operation to effect such complete change of carriages.
Thus, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved actuator mechanism for a plotter carriage.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved actuator mechanism for a plotter carriage which enables either pen or pencil plots to be made.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved actuator mechanism for a plotter carriage which can be quickly and easily changed from a pen to a pencil mode of plotting and vice versa.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved actuator mechanism for a plotter carriage which significantly reduces the cost of converting a plotter from a pen to a pencil mode of plotting and vice versa.